To Spectatus. (360?)
The school goes on, as it always does -- some years better than others, but never without interest. This year has brought a particularly promising crop of students, among whom the young man who carries this letter deserves special mention.
He came to us with good recommendations but modest expectations, and he has exceeded both. His progress in declamation has been remarkable, and his grasp of the classical models is already superior to that of students who have been with me twice as long. More importantly, he has the temperament for public life: steady, fair-minded, and resilient under criticism.
I recommend him to you not merely as a favor to me -- though it is that too -- but because I believe you will find him genuinely useful. The combination of rhetorical skill and good character is not so common that we can afford to overlook it when it appears. Give him a chance to prove himself, and I think you will not regret it.
As for the other matters you raised, I shall answer them in a separate letter. Some things are better discussed at length, and this one has already grown longer than I intended.
The school goes on, as it always does -- some years better than others, but never without interest. This year has brought a particularly promising crop of students, among whom the young man who carries this letter deserves special mention.
He came to us with good recommendations but modest expectations, and he has exceeded both. His progress in declamation has been remarkable, and his grasp of the classical models is already superior to that of students who have been with me twice as long. More importantly, he has the temperament for public life: steady, fair-minded, and resilient under criticism.
I recommend him to you not merely as a favor to me -- though it is that too -- but because I believe you will find him genuinely useful. The combination of rhetorical skill and good character is not so common that we can afford to overlook it when it appears. Give him a chance to prove himself, and I think you will not regret it.
As for the other matters you raised, I shall answer them in a separate letter. Some things are better discussed at length, and this one has already grown longer than I intended.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.